This group of teenage instrumental hard rockers hail from “the heart of Silicon Valley,” Menlo Park, California. Their self-titled debut CD came out in late 2007 (on Mnemoic Records), but found its way into my lap in 2008. And wouldn’t you know, the album was a surprisingly enjoyable spin.
So what do they sound like, you say? Though it’s hard to pinpoint an exact influence, this is the kind of music an extremely young but ambitious Bush might have made if they just wanted to rock out without any hint of a vocal and had a better-than-average lead guitar player. Any number of other post-grunge acts could rightly claim themselves an influence here as well.
For those of you who find that bands today have used modern technology in such a way that it has taken away the live feel of a great record, The Wilted has let it be known that they performed all ten of this album’s songs live and directly to “Digidesign ProTools,” with very few overdubs. You might not have guessed ProTools was used for the record, but several tracks, including “From Red” and the excellent tunes “Seven to Nine” and “Hydrogen” definitely have action that signifies that live feel.
So the lead guitar parts are nice and loud, but the drums and bass aren’t drowned out in the least. No problem there. What you will find however, is that while the record was recorded live (a good thing), there is some but not very much diversity in sound (especially guitar tones), throughout its ten tracks (not bad, but potentially boring). As impressive as the musicianship and songwriting is for these teens, it would need some more depth to make up for the same type of sound - different than same type of song - found in a lot of these tunes. [But at least they don’t write lame tracks like Scars on Broadway’s “They Say.” Sorry, but I had to say it.
There are exceptions of course, and “Seven to Nine” is one of them, with its transition from Nirvana-esque power chords to delay-drenched guitars and then back into overdrive for a high-spirited guitar solo. And sure, the melodic “Montage’d” starts out quieter than most other tunes, but it builds up to a louder series of repetitive guitar/bass riffs, thereby losing a bit of its luster.
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